OT Laptops

[0riginal]

I would really like a Mac but I'm a business student and windows seems more practical. BUT the laptop program at my school says that the MacBook pro is approved by the college of business and has a "dual boot solution". Worth it?

I'm going into business too! And I'm getting a Mac as well. As long as you get the Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) it should be transferable to PCs pretty easily. My adviser said that we could get a Mac, but it would just be a little more work like sending files and stuff, but then then IT guy said that most majors at my school are moving towards Macs (except for computer programming which makes sense). I definitely think it's worth it, I'm just not sure if I want a 13 or 15 inch!

Anyways, I think you should check out Asus BuegeSmalls. A lot of people have never heard of them, but my sister got a laptop and a tablet and they're both amazing. She's never had any major problems with it as far as I know and the tablet will hook up to a little keyboard so you can always take that to class instead. Here's a BestBuy link to all their laptops. A lot of them are on sale now for like $400 so I bet your dad would be happy! I would go in store and ask them which is best for graphic design though.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

I'm going into business too! And I'm getting a Mac as well. As long as you get the Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) it should be transferable to PCs pretty easily. My adviser said that we could get a Mac, but it would just be a little more work like sending files and stuff, but then then IT guy said that most majors at my school are moving towards Macs (except for computer programming which makes sense). I definitely think it's worth it, I'm just not sure if I want a 13 or 15 inch!

Anyways, I think you should check out Asus BuegeSmalls. A lot of people have never heard of them, but my sister got a laptop and a tablet and they're both amazing. She's never had any major problems with it as far as I know and the tablet will hook up to a little keyboard so you can always take that to class instead. Here's a BestBuy link to all their laptops. A lot of them are on sale now for like $400 so I bet your dad would be happy! I would go in store and ask them which is best for graphic design though.

My brother has an Asus (I think thats what it is),and as far as I know he really likes it. My dad would love that price! Lol. Thanks so much everyone! This is so helpful!!

 

[ssccxnce]

honestly in the design field macs are the preferred computer as the software runs better and easier and you are not anywhere near as prone to it crashing in the middle of an assingment been there done that it sucks, the computers are the industry standard and what most firms (if thats what you wanna do after) deal with so i highly suggest it, you also will not have to worry about buying a new computer every 2 years.

see if your school has a laptop program like mine does, it has a discounted price on the machienes and software prices are included with the tuition and extra fees

once you go mac you'll never go back

 

[xo sarah]

I'm a graphic design student currently (only 3 more classes til graduation!) and I'm getting ready to upgrade my computer as well because my hard drive is starting to give out and I can't risk trying to have it fixed without already having a backup with all my work on it.

With that being said, one of the most important parts is probably how fast your computer can run. You definitely need something that runs at 2.0GHz or better because of Adobe Creative Suite. Mine currently runs at 2.2GHz and works really well to run all the programs I need. The one I'm looking at getting is an Acer Aspire AS7750G-6854 because it has all of the specs I personally need. It runs even faster than mine is now (it runs at 2.5GHz) and is a 2nd generation dual core i5 (the 3rd generation is just coming out, but they are SO expensive). I'd recommend as a graphic student to find something with a 17"+ screen as well, as I've found it's much easier to do my work because it is quite a bit larger than most 14-15" screens.

Many of my professors DO recommend Mac computers, but they also know they're not in the budget of most college students, so I wouldn't really worry if you had one or not. I figure if I buy a new, updated computer now that it will last me until I am able to afford something like a Mac because a 17" Mac Pro would run me about $2,200 and I really don't have that to spend right now. But also, Mac software is very expensive and honestly, if you look at the specs on it, they're not THAT much better than a Windows computer if you or your parents don't have the budget for it.

 

[Ashley]

I'm a graphic design student currently (only 3 more classes til graduation!) and I'm getting ready to upgrade my computer as well because my hard drive is starting to give out and I can't risk trying to have it fixed without already having a backup with all my work on it.

With that being said, one of the most important parts is probably how fast your computer can run. You definitely need something that runs at 2.0GHz or better because of Adobe Creative Suite. Mine currently runs at 2.2GHz and works really well to run all the programs I need. The one I'm looking at getting is an Acer Aspire AS7750G-6854 because it has all of the specs I personally need. It runs even faster than mine is now (it runs at 2.5GHz) and is a 2nd generation dual core i5 (the 3rd generation is just coming out, but they are SO expensive). I'd recommend as a graphic student to find something with a 17"+ screen as well, as I've found it's much easier to do my work because it is quite a bit larger than most 14-15" screens.

Many of my professors DO recommend Mac computers, but they also know they're not in the budget of most college students, so I wouldn't really worry if you had one or not. I figure if I buy a new, updated computer now that it will last me until I am able to afford something like a Mac because a 17" Mac Pro would run me about $2,200 and I really don't have that to spend right now. But also, Mac software is very expensive and honestly, if you look at the specs on it, they're not THAT much better than a Windows computer if you or your parents don't have the budget for it.

They just discontinued the 17" Macbook Pro, btw. You could go with a smaller one and get an external monitor for work at home (NOT an apple monitor, there's no need to spend $1000 on a monitor).

You're right though that the important thing is the power behind it. You can't get a $400 laptop and then complain that Windows sucks when you can't run the entire Creative Suite on it. Windows doesn't suck, the hardware on your laptop sucks.

 

[xo sarah]

They just discontinued the 17" Macbook Pro, btw. You could go with a smaller one and get an external monitor for work at home (NOT an apple monitor, there's no need to spend $1000 on a monitor).

You're right though that the important thing is the power behind it. You can't get a $400 laptop and then complain that Windows sucks when you can't run the entire Creative Suite on it. Windows doesn't suck, the hardware on your laptop sucks.

Yeah, I mean, my dad has a laptop that runs at the standard (at least I think it's standard and by that I mean slowest, lol) 1.5GHz and that sucker is literally as slow as molasses. I would never accomplish anything on it and my CS5 (need to upgrade to CS6 already ) would probably just freeze up.

 

[Ashley]

Yeah, I mean, my dad has a laptop that runs at the standard (at least I think it's standard and by that I mean slowest, lol) 1.5GHz and that sucker is literally as slow as molasses. I would never accomplish anything on it and my CS5 (need to upgrade to CS6 already ) would probably just freeze up.

There's more to it than just processor speed - there's also ram, etc, but yeah. Even for the price of the cheapest MacBook, $1200, you can get much more powerful hardware on a Windows laptop. You're not going to get any real advantage with a Mac for graphic design at that price point.

My MBP is from 2010, and I got the cheapest one at the time. I can run CS5, but not all that way, it even chokes up on iPhoto sometimes (I have a DSLR camera so image files are huge). For $1200 I could have gotten a windows laptop that ran it no problem.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

Okay, now my dad says that he will go to $1000, which includes laptop, required software for school and wireless mouse. I went to Best Buy last night and I saw an HP, Asus and Samsung that I really liked.

 

[GreatWhite92]

I have a mac. I love it. But I also dont have to run any programs on it besides finale, which is a music writing program. I will never have another PC ever again!!

 

[xomckenzieee]

My brother has an Asus (I think thats what it is),and as far as I know he really likes it. My dad would love that price! Lol. Thanks so much everyone! This is so helpful!!

ASUS is the way to go!! I love mine, and there's different upgrades you can put on it. I'm a business major so I have lots of spreadsheets and stuff stored on mine so I got one with more memory. They're pretty sturdy too... trust me, mine was dropped of my bed a few times on accident. Good luck! And have a great first year

 

[michelesagem]

I'm a communication major. I plan on using the adobe suite a lot... having gotten the $$$$ to buy it yet but we use it alot at school in the labs and we also have a "satelite" program so I can use it online on my computer. I have an HP and love it. Macs are okay, i suggest you be familiar with them but I like pc's better for the material i work on. they also seem to me at least to be more compatible with more things. macs have things all their own lol.

 

[jcheermom]

When my son graduated from high school and was going to college, we got him a MAC and he has not had one problem with it and he loves it!! Now my daughter just graduated from high school and we plan on getting her a MAC, today in fact. This is what we see A LOT of college students using-my daughter's friend and her soon to be roommate just got her MAC the other day. I don't have a MAC nor know anything about MAC's but we are in the process of getting another lap top, we currently have 2 PC laptops and 2 PC desk tops, plus the 2 MAC's for our family of 5, but find that it is easier and more convenient to use laptops (one of our laptops is unreliable and needs to be replaced, although we just tossed one of our older laptops that died on us!!), and I think we will be looking into purchasing a MAC. I think we will be keeping our options open for our new laptop, but will still be purchasing a MAC for my daughter because that's what she wants for college, so I'm on the fence about what to recommend.

 

[fiercerando88]

Okay fierceboard techies I need your help. My beloved Dell that I've had for 6 years has finally reached it's last day. I knew it was coming so I've been researching and asking my techie friends for advice and I've been told to look at ASUS and HP. No MAC's for me, I'm definitely a PC girl. I don't need anything fancy, just your basic internet, microsoft office, windows 7 stuff.

So after looking at a few stores, I finally purchased an HP yesterday and I think I'm having commitment issues. My Dell is 14" and square, and everything they had in the stores was widescreen. I HATE WIDESCREEN. I ended up buying a 15.6" because anything else was just wayyy too short. Yet this one is still bothering me. So fierctechies, does anyone know if they even make laptops with square screens anymore? I don't want a small little notebook, just a regular, square laptop that isn't widescreen. Anyone have any advice? One of my friends said pretty much anything they make now is widescreen, but I'm hoping he's wrong...

 

[cheerheart4life]

I heard that the Sony Vaio is a really good laptop and it's a good deal!

 

[omgitssydthekid]

I heard that the Sony Vaio is a really good laptop and it's a good deal!

I have a white 14" Sony Vaio and it's amazing! I have had no problems with it and I love it so much! I got it for graduation and I think it was around $700 so it wasn't expensive either! I highly recommend it!